Attachments for clothes hangers



June 20, 1961 R. F. EASON 2,939,191

ATTACHMENTS FOR CLOTHES HANGERS Filed March 14, 1960 I N VE NTOR BY F04w/osz, Mrrnvaz r 5 4/4172 ATTORNEYS United States Patent 2,989,191ATTACHMENTS FOR CLOTHES HANGERS Robert F. Eason, 4500 Graywood Ave.,Long Beach, Calif. Filed Mar. 14, 1960, Ser. No. 14,830 4 Claims. (Cl.211-113) This invention relates to flexible attachments for clotheshangers and particularly to devices for spacing and keeping hangers inproper garment supporting position on a horizontal member.

One of the main objects of the invention is to provide a strip offlexible spacing material bored for quick attachment on a clothes hangerhandle in such manner that an inwardly projecting manually flexiblekeeper will prevent accidental displacement from a horizontal supportingmember. I

Conventional clothes hangers do not properly support garments on theirstandard horizontal member. The hangers tend to jam together and thesupported garments become wrinkled'and disarranged. The loose handlesmay turn in diverse directions resulting in an annoying entanglementbetween unoccupied hangers. In removing a garment from a hanger thefurther annoyance of accidental d-isplacement of the hanger or ofadjacent unoccupied hangers frequently occurs.

The present invention contemplates an attachment that spaces the hangersproperly and supports the hangers by a flexible device in a neatparallel manner to obviate possibility of displacement from a horizontalsupport. At the same time it permits easy manual removal or horizontalslidability. An inwardly projecting sidewardly flexible keeper opens thehanger attachment for quick placement on a horizontal support in desiredposition while return of the flexible keeper to initial position insuresa slight clamping action that holds the hanger and supporting garmentagainst accidental lateral displacement without impeding its horizontalmovability on the support. A pin embedded in the flexible keeper andpivoted on the hanger handle provides rigidity of construction andinsures continuous keeper operation without fatigue of the manuallyflexed portion. The pivoted pin also holds the flexible keeper inproperly directed angular clamping position at all times.

Another object of the invention is to provide a strip of flexiblespacing material bored for quick attachment on a conventional clotheshanger handle whereby an inwardly projecting manually flexible keeperwill permit quick hanger placement on and slidable clamping connectionwith a standard horizontal member.

Still another object of the invention is to provide a strip of flexiblespacing material bored for attachment on a conventional clothes hangerhandle, said strip having a manually flexible keeper portion that has asupport member embedded therein.

A further object of the invention is to provide a strip of flexiblematerial bored throughout for quick attachability on a conventionalclothes hanger handle, said strip having a manually flexible integrallyformed clamping keeper portion connected to said handle by means of apivoted supporting pin within the keeper.

A still further object of the invention is to provide a strip offlexible spacing material bored throughout and with an access holethrough the wall of said bore for quick attachment on a clothes hangerhandle and providing a manually flexible keeper having an embedded pinpivotally attachable on said handle.

Yet another object of the invention is to provide a device that willprevent scraping of the finish of the horizontal support.

With the foregoing objects in view, and such other objects andadvantages as will become apparent to those 7 ice skilled in the art towhich this invention relates as the specification proceeds, theinvention consists essentially in the arrangement and construction ofparts all as hereinafter more particularly described, reference beinghad to the accompanying drawing in whichi FIGURE 1 is a perspective viewshowing the manner of using applicants spacing and keeper device;

FIGURE 2 is an enlarged sectional view taken on the line 2-2 of FIGURE1;

FIGURE 3 is a sectional view taken on the line 3--3 of FIGURE 2;

FIGURE 4 is a perspective view showing the manual sid'ewise flexingaction of the keeper;

FIGURE 5 is a perspective view of a preferred form of flexible spacingand keeper strip;

FIGURE'6 is a perspective view of a modified form of flexible spacingand keeper strip; and

FIGURE 7 is a side elevation showing a modified form of the device.

A preferred embodiment of the invention will now be described. A strip Sis a one-piece extrusion made from suitable flexible plastic material,such as polyethylene or polypropylene. The strip S has a flat bottom 10and a convex top 12. The flexible strip S is bored throughout at 14. Anaccess hole 16 to the bore 14 is made at the apex of the convex side ofthe strip S near one end of the strip. The access hole 16 defines aclothes hanger attachment and spacer member 18 and a keeper and clampingmember 20. The keeper 20 has a pin 22 disposed in the bored portion 14thereof. The pin 22 has an eye 24 that extends into the access hole 16.The inserted pin 22 is not only a supporting structure insuring rigidityand absolute angular positioning of the keeper 20, but also acts toprevent fatigue of the flexible strip S adjacent to the access hole 16.

The flexible spacer and keeper strip S is fashioned for quick attachmentto the curved handle H of a conventional clothes hanger CH. The strip Sis manually bent at the access hole 16 so that the eye 24 of the pin 22may be slipped over the open end of the handle H and the attachment andspacer member 18 threaded or slipped about the curved portion of thehandle H, as shown in FIGURES 3 and 4. This is a quick manual operationthat leaves the pin embedded keeper 20 projecting inwardly in a looselycontacting clamping relationship with the standard horizontal clotheshanger support HS. The eye 24 of the keeper supporting pin 22 actuallyassumes a fixed angular position on the handle H but is pivotalthereabout.

In FIGURE 4 of the drawings, it will be apparent that the keeper orclamping member 20 may be manually moved sidewardly in either directionto open up the jaw of the handle H so that the clothes hanger andsupported garment may be easily placed on or removed from the horizontalsupport HS. The attachment portion 18 of the strip S insures properspaced disposal of the hangers, as is clearly shown in FIGURE 1. Thehangers with the novel attachment devices may be moved horizontally asdesired without scraping. The spacer and keeper strips S absolutelyinsure proper disposal of garments. There is no possibility of garmentdisarrangement that is universally found in connection with the use ofconventional clothes hangers. The annoyance of hangers beingaccidentally knocked to the floor is eliminated.

The flexible strip S may have modifications of form and in FIGURE 6 aflat base 26 has a rib or tube 28 integrally formed therewith and risingtherefrom.

In FIGURE 7, this modification is shown in position on a clothes hangerhandle. All parts heretofore described are present excepting the keepersupporting pin 22 and the access hole 16. In this instance the inwardlybent keeper 30 is defined by the partial severance split 32. A notch 34rides on the hanger handle H. The flexible keeper 30 may be manuallymoved sidewardly in exactly the same manner shown in FIGURE 4. Thedisclosure in FIGURE 7 coincides with that shown in my co-pendingapplication Serial No. 789,577, filed January 28, 1959, forSpacer-Keeper for Clothes Hangers, now abandoned. The presentapplication is therefore a continuation-in-part thereof.

Since various modifications can be made in my invention as hereinabovedescribed, and many apparently widely different embodiments of same madewithin the spirit and scope of the claims without departing from suchspirit and scope, it is intended that all matter contained in theaccompanying specification shall be interpreted as illustrative only andnot in a limited sense.

I claim:

1. An attachment for a horizontally supported hanger, comprising: astrip of flexible material bored throughout and having a pin accessaperture near one end; and a pin insertable in said access aperture andbored end, said pin having an eye threadable with said bored strip aboutsaid hanger handle whereby an inwardly projecting sidewardly movablekeeper is disposed in slidable clamping engagement with said support.

2. An attachment for a horizontally supported clothes hanger,comprising: a strip of flexible material bored throughout and having apin access hole near one end defining attachment and keeper portions;and a pin insertable through said access hole into said keeper end, saidpin having an eye threadable with said attachment portion about saidhanger handle and being pivotally disposed thereon to support saidkeeper in angular position against said horizontal support.

3. An attachment for a horizontally supported clothes hanger,comprising: a strip of extruded plastic material bored throughout andhaving a pin access hole near one end defining attachment and keeperportions; and a rigid pin insertable in said keeper portion and havingan eye pivotal on and threadable with said attachment portion on saidhanger handle, said pin sustaining said keeper in slight clampingengagement with said horizontal member, but movable manually in sidewisedirection for engagement or release therewith.

4. An attachment for a clothes hanger, comprising: a strip of flexiblematerial having a portion bored to threadably receive the handle of ahanger, said strip having a support engaging surface and a transversepartial severance split formed on the opposite surface and adjacent anend thereof, the remaining end portion serving as a pivoted keepermovable inwardly toward said surface, whereby a hanger handle threadedin the bore will urge the keeper inwardly.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS2,355,705 Cohn Aug. 15, 1944 FOREIGN PATENTS 138,228 Sweden Nov. 25,1952 216,997 Australia Jan. 23, 1958

